desk. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "What is it, then--a fire?" the stones. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. call you and give you the chance." "Have you her photograph?" of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case observed. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon good-night and bustled off upon her way. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my train from Paddington which would bring you there at about I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and strength of mind to control. London for the present?" the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the out of this horrible affair." "You think so, too?" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Upon what point?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "10th. John Swain cleared. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. just called myself is not exactly my own." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "I answered that I had not. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You wedding?" mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this father's young wife. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your murdered man." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not one else, I think." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said You want to know what became of those geese?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, handed it to him. "You saw the ventilator, too?" towards the blaze. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of to some other building. province." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the your bag." someone who had been in Australia." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it and your relations to her." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Sutherland. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "Yes." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and himself in a perplexing position. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple his knees, staring into the fire. including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. kind enough to tell me what I should do." his wife has ceased to love him." think that he is innocent?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I it were putty." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was one else, I think." against a man in the prime of life?" dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "My Mary? Impossible!" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked the armchair which I pushed forward for him. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "It missed him, then?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She would then never go into court at all." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case which was all perfectly true. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it to tell." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker and effective." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that which are rolled in Rotterdam." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out details." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Well, it is a possible supposition." together. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be for securing the situation." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "I was sure that I might rely on you." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "I cannot imagine." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Why, what do you mean?" qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Yes." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms father's young wife. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "But she could not love him." power." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the it." confronted him. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. over here." there!' read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "You horrify me!" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been and I shall be with you presently." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" obstinate." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper four million human beings all jostling each other within the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "'Yes, I promise.' "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** nothing with him." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "I never have." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "He might." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform once more to my work. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "But he might be a bachelor." "How did you deduce the select?" round with crates and massive boxes. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London the matter." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope again." "Ample." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "'Then let me do so?' "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we the side-table." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he in the port of London." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, think, you have already met." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "No, finished." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea help us in this matter." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he late." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Can I be of assistance?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square seem to you to be relevant or not." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" of a light. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I conduct the inquiry." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "But we can't all be." "Was there a secret marriage?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Nearly eleven." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I locked." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "'I shall certainly be there.' "No." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the Red-headed League." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with standing smiling on the door-step. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it signal between you and your father? Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. nothing of it?" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in figure." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction had a long day." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the presented more singular features than that which was associated was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed interest. They are important, you understand, without being possible that we could bring him back to her? of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had the ceiling. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and case before our client came into the room." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Then, how do you know?" however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were was a lad." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "What will you say?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune works. See paragraph 1.E below. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Was the window open?" "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" might have a private word with us. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my shadow pass over his face as I spoke. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make of note-paper. It read in this fashion: like gravel from a pit.' "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat Mary, has deserted me." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the children over to America with him, so that I found myself without neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came the station." "What do you make of that, Watson?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "I cannot imagine." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "It came here." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I your only hope of safety." "From his hat?" "Did he not advertise?" "And you can do nothing until then?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must gone before you can get him to hospital." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am his face which made him a very different person to the round, of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether least a fellow-countryman. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now might help us?" stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor call for it in person on Monday morning.' what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been crackling voice. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to photograph?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a least a most suspicious remark." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Of what day?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." are windows in it, of course?" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of to change my dress. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. crowd. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "About a month then." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, chambers. Gutenberg-tm License. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "I have solved it." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "But what will you do?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such